By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Zhayna Steele, 9, and the God Squad practice at Prince of Peace Church. The Billy Graham Crusade helps fund the program. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

Perhaps the most lasting impact of evangelist Billy Graham's four-day mission in Cincinnati a year ago is in the most inconspicuous places.

It can be seen in the basement of an Over-the-Rhine church, where the smile of 9-year-old Zhayna Steele of Over-the-Rhine lights up the room as she twists and turns to the beat of gospel rap on a makeshift dance floor.

It may be found, too, in the confines of a cinder-block jail cell, where an inmate reads a Bible and prays for guidance.

And, on the south side of Covington, it is seen in what was, for nearly a century, a corner beer joint that has been transformed into a neighborhood activities center where people who were unlikely to ever set foot inside the Baptist church next door can learn new skills and hear the Gospel message.

Hundreds of Cincinnati area Christians in those places and many more are carrying on the ministry that the 84-year-old evangelist started a year ago before large crowds at Paul Brown Stadium in a event that Graham promised would reverberate in the community for years to come.

Thousands heard Graham's message here and had their lives transformed, but for a half-dozen Christian social service programs - many aimed at inner-city youth - the benefit was financial as well.

Last year's Billy Graham crusade was held in Paul Brown Stadium. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

The Graham mission here took in nearly $2.9 million and had expenses just under $2.8 million. That meant that, after paying some miscellaneous bills, there was about $90,000 left to distribute to local social and outreach ministries.

"That was a commitment Billy Graham and his ministry made to Cincinnati, that it would not just come here for a few days, pack up and leave," said the Rev. Larry Davis of the First Baptist Church of Cold Spring, one of the local co-chairs of the Graham mission. "They wanted to leave something substantial behind.''

The Graham mission here, said the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr. of the New Jerusalem Baptist Church, an African-American minister and the other co-chairman, caused a "change in many people's hearts and souls."

"That is how you change the world," Lynch said, "one soul at a time."

Graham came at a time when the city was still reeling from the April 2001 riots and racial tensions were still running high.

The 83-year-old evangelist did not promise to heal all the city's wounds, but Cincinnati's problems were never far from the minds of mission planners. .

"We talked about it a lot and what impact we could have,'' said Anthony Munoz, the former Cincinnati Bengals tackle who served on the local organizing committee. "We prayed about it. We never thought Billy Graham could solve all of Cincinnati's problems. But we saw him as one piece of the puzzle on the road to a solution."

The 11,000-plus who, on the four nights of the Graham mission, came down the aisles of Paul Brown Stadium as the choir softly sang "Just As I Am'' and made the commitment to Christ on the football field were important.

But Davis said the personal relationships among those 200,000-plus who attended were just as important.

What the Graham mission did for Cincinnati area believers, Davis said, "was give us a renewed sense of hope."

Davis sees changes in small things, like a new-found friend stopping at his church for coffee. His is a white, suburban church; before the Graham mission, he and his congregation had little contact with the black churches of Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky.

Now, though, the Rev. Richard Fowler of Ninth Street Baptist Church in Covington, a black church, will stop by at Davis' Cold Spring church just to sit in the pastor's office and sip coffee.

"I'm not sure that he would have felt comfortable doing that before,'' Davis said. "Now we are friends and he feels free to stop by. And those kind of acts are taking place all over the area.''

Churches came together as well.

There has traditionally been a wide gulf between the emotional fervor of the evangelical churches and the more staid "mainstream" denominations like the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans and others.

JoEllen Grady, executive director of the Council of Christian Communions, an 89-year Cincinnati ministry made up of 11 mainstream denominations, said she believes the four-day Graham mission has helped bridge that gulf.

"We have found that by working together on projects that came about as a result of Billy Graham coming here that we have a lot more in common than we had ever dreamed,'' said Grady, who served on the local board. "What happened here those four days will have an impact on individual lives for years to come.''

One thing the Graham mission left behind was about $15,000 in "seed money'' so that a coalition of local churches could repeat an outreach mission that was very successful a year ago. Last year, on the weekend before the Graham mission at Paul Brown Stadium began, thousands of volunteers spread out through the Cincinnati area to distribute soft drinks and bottled water on street corners. That effort will be reprised Saturday.

The rest of the $90,000 budget excess was split up among six Christian outreach ministries in the form of $12,500 checks. They are:

• The Adolescent School Program Inspiring Real Employment (ASPIRE), a program that teaches the work ethic and Christian character to "at-risk'' seventh- and eighth-graders in Over-the-Rhine;

• CityCure, a group that works with local churches to reach urban youth and families through an off-road motorcycle ministry, youth basketball, a rap dance ensemble called "The God Squad,'' and other programs.

• Council of Christian Communions, a collaborative of 800 churches from 11 denominations that provides education ministry to at-risk children and worship and Bible study for inmates at the Hamilton County Justice Center;

• El Ji Moore Activities Center, a new neighborhood center on Covington's south side, run by volunteers from South Side Baptist Church, that offers tutoring, computer training and Christian education.

• Lord's Gym, an Over-the-Rhine sports and physical fitness center based on Christian teaching;

• Viola's Rec Room, a Christian center that provides tutoring to young people who have been exposed to poverty, drugs, and unemployment.

For some of those Christian ministries, the Graham money was crucial to being able to continue.

"It was a gift from heaven,'' said the Rev. A. Harold Pike, who has been pastor of the South Side Baptist Church in Covington for 36 years.

For decades, Pike had been eyeing the Salty Dog Cafe at the corner of Holman and Linden avenues, just 50 feet from his church, watching the drunks tumble in and out of the saloon. At times, he would even lay hands on the building and pray that God put the building to a better use.

Two years ago, Pike was able to buy the saloon and began the long, expensive process of transforming it into a neighborhood center. Amy Cummins, 29, a church member who grew up in the neighborhood, was brought on as director.

"Things looked pretty dark until the Graham money came,'' Pike said.

But once it did, the center was able to open its doors to the neighborhood. Several Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) groups now meet inside the former beer joint.

Cummins said the center is tutoring students at local grade schools and holds a crocheting class for neighborhood women. From time to time, families are invited for a night of video movies, snacks and board games.

"It's one of the few times some of these families sit and do something together," Cummins said.

About four miles north of the Moore Activities Center, more than 30 kids - ranging in age from 6 to 16 - spread out on the hardwood floor in the basement of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in the 1500 block of Race Street in Over-the-Rhine.

They come to Prince of Peace for four hours a day, four days a week for two weeks to be part of the "The God Squad,'' a rap dance squad with a Christian message.

"We're a new generation; our choice is Jesus,'' they chant as a rap rhythm pounds from a boom box.

At the front of the room is Gordon Havens, a former championship ballroom dancer who is now coach and teacher for "The God Squad.''

He smiles, he laughs, he jokes with the kids, but he also brooks no nonsense. Discipline is the key to being a dance team; and kids who fail to stand at attention when the order comes to form ranks find themselves in the "time out'' corner.

"What we try to teach is discipline, a sense of accomplishment and the idea that these kids can minister to others through dance,'' Havens said.

What he wants from the God Squad when it performs is emotion; he wants them to rap the message in a way that it will grab the attention of an audience.

"It's not the volume that counts; it's the emotion,'' he tells the God Squad. "Think about God when you rap. Who cares what others stinkin' think about you? It's what God thinks of you that counts.''

Zhayna Steele dances with the God Squad because when she dances, when she raps, "I feel closer to Jesus.''

Just as important is that the mission changed individual lives.

"My husband and I have grown a lot spiritually in the last year and I think that was the start of it," said Holly Manilla of West Chester. She also said that she experienced a healing of heart problems, which a later test confirmed.

"When they did the (test) the results they found were not what they were expecting. I was told to resume a normal life. It was awesome."

E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer.com